Death of an Ordinary Housecat

[WilliamPitt]

Death of an Ordinary Housecat
Richard (RJ) Eskow

There's nothing to see here. Move along. Nothing, that is, but this report of a minor incident in Russellville, Arkansas: "Democratic Congressional candidate Ken Aden's campaign manager returned home to find his family pet slaughtered, with the word 'liberal' painted on the animal's corpse."

(snip)

But there wasn't a single moment of reflection, much less remorse. Not from Hannity. Not from O'Reilly. Not from Savage or Goldberg. On the contrary, Hannity was outraged when I laid some of the responsibility for the Unitarian killings at his feet. (A true totalitarian to the end, he raged and screamed on the air and said I should be 'fired' from the Huffington Post.)

Now a cat is dead. Not a first responder or a churchgoer or a toddler in an Oklahoma day-care center. Just a cat. We don't know if it was male or female. We don't even know its name.

If there wasn't any remorse or reflection after those deaths and injuries in Knoxville, there certainly won't be any over the death of a tiny creature in a little Southern town. The town was Russellville, Arkansas, in Pope County, population 27,000 or so. Bet you didn't know it's the county seat.

The rest: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/media-violent-rhetoric_b_1225552.html

A really, really important piece.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Brownshirt mentality

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Has anybody collected any statistics

comparing acts of domestic terrorism committed by right-wingers vs. those committed by those of the left? I know some leftist groups did some crazy stuff in the '60s and early '70s, but I'd really like to know whether leftists have done anything violent at all since about 1980. I'm willing to bet there have been close to zero acts of politically-motivated violence (that is, terrorism) in the last 30 years or so. Have any liberals/leftists shot up a church, killed a doctor, murdered a child's pet? Have they left death threats on poiticians' or activists' voicemail or email? Are there leftist Facebook pages that advocate killing people? Have any liberal politicians distributed campaign literature featuring bulls-eyes? Are they using violent metaphors in their speeches?

I didn't think so.

And I am wondering why this is. Why has the right wing become so mentally violent that some people feel compelled to act on that mindset? And why aren't liberals - who are the targets of this mentality - behaving the same way?

I suspect it has to do with the narrow-minded authoritarianism that forms the basis of the right-wing worldview. But where does that come from? Why are these people so angry and afraid? And will it get even worse?

[undergroundpanther]

39. some people are

who they are,authoritarians,narcissists and sociopathy all encompass the right wing crap because that's what they ARE. I call it the asshole bully party.
And what I wonder is how many caring people gravitate to right wing mentalities?

When we fight for our right to be,we are basically fighting every bully,abuser,liar,cheat and little hitler out there.They are republican because that party is about what THEY are. What THEY want. It's all about THEM,and screwing over,controlling,destroying US,why because we are NOT like them. Ever notice authoritarians,bullies never seem to love cats? It's because a cat will never be owned,or bow to a master. They are free,and the right wing fears OTHER people's freedom,of people not like THEM.Who would prevent bully assholes from doing what they love,abusing,bullying,robbing,killing. Sekhmet ruin the cat killer's life..Bring justice! peace kitty,may your life eternal be free of bullies.

[iscooterliberally]

3. Poor Gato. n/t

[FarLeftFist]

4. Serial Killer on the loose.

[unionworks]

5. I was dismayed

That this story received no coverage on MSNBC last night. Hopefully they wanted to prevent other nutcases fromgetting ideas.let's hope they catch the killer.

[MuseRider]

6. Thanks Will

it is an important article.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

7. I read that there is a $5000 reward. I hope somebody goes for the cash and rats out the perp.

I'm not usually the vengeful type, but in this case, nothing short of the Inglorious Basterds treatment would be appropriate for the assholes responsible.

[hifiguy]

8. +1

I hope someone remembers to bring the screwdriver and the blowtorch.

[wakemewhenitsover]

9. K&R... how horrible...

ty for posting.

[ddeclue]

10. :(

[meow2u3]

11. Kitty is the first victim of a campaign of right-wing terrorism

Isolated incidents, my ass! These brownshits deliberately chose to torture and kill a family cat whom the children loved, solely to try to intimidate Democrats from running for office. If this isn't an act of terrorism, what is?

This pisses me off to no end the way those psychopath wingnuts would stoop to murdering the innocent cat of small children just to make an example of his or her father. Savagery like this is enough to infuriate a pacifist enough to provoke him or her to retaliatory violence. We have to use all our will power to resist the temptation to retaliate in kind against such a relentless pattern of terrorism.

[WilliamPitt]

13. Hardly the first victim

Gabby Giffords leaps to mind...and if you buy into the idea that right-wing violent rhetoric didn't contribute to the "crazed lone gunman" Loughlin's motivation, remember that her campaign office had its windows shot out not long before she took that bullet.

The first victim? Hardly.

Just sayin'.

[meow2u3]

14. I meant to say the cat was the first FOUR-LEGGED victim of terrorism

I unwittingly omitted this detail.

I'm sure Gato won't be the last unless we stop the brownshits in their tracks.

[BeHereNow]

25. To refresh the memories of those who have forgotten...

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/15645

"It is probably never a good idea to use imagery of a gunsight target map against people who have differing viewpoints. Now that someone has acted out in violence towards Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, it is safe to assume that it derailed any chance at Sarah Palin winning an election for the White House.

Palin endorsed Jesse Kelly, who ran against Giffords, who used the tagline:

"Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."

It is hardly the most responsible thing to endorse a canadiate who uses overtones of violence in their election campaigns."

Any more questions as to why this cat murder, incited my some one equally as dangerous as Palin
must be held accountable for inciting violence through the media?

BASTA!
BHN

[Blue Owl]

12. Fuck Corporate M$M news and the GOP -- pretty much one in the same

n/t

[stevedeshazer]

15. The link is a must read.

Thanks for posting it, WP.

[riderinthestorm]

17. Animal abuse is one of the major signs of later murderous intent

I hope the authorities aren't simply blowing this off. They've got a budding killer out there...

The story IS very, very important. Thanks Will. K&R

[shanti]

36. exactly

imo, it's similar to when a disgruntled boy/girlfriend hacks up their partner's clothes with a knife. the intent is there. this is horrifying

[Scurrilous]

18. K & R

[blondie58]

19. rip little gato

I hope that you were able to give a good bite or scratch to the evil human who did this to you.

[Zoeisright]

20. If anyone did that to my cat they would not have an easy life.

Or a long one.

[Ikonoklast]

22. The last guy that one of my sons caught torturing a cat got a shovel to the face after

refusing to stop after being asked to.

He stopped after getting hit in the face with a shovel, however.

Really quickly.

[Hawkowl]

23. +1

A man after my own heart.

[Ikonoklast]

24. We rescue kitties at my house, and get them forever homes.

My children grew up with and love kitties, and so do I, and we take a dim view of anyone that would torment a defenseless animal.

Anyone that would tell a rather muscular young man with lots of ink and a few piercings to mind his own fucking business while in that man's back yard while tormenting a defenseless feral kitten screaming for its' mother and not to expect a severe ass-kicking is just too fucking stupid to begin with.

My son just helped him to realize just how stupid he was.

[jsmirman]

26. Good for him

if I ever got a tattoo, it could be that: fuck with my cat and die. Painfully.

[hifiguy]

35. Congratulations to your son

for sticking up for that poor helpless kitten. Obviously he was raised to have excellent values. It is never, ever wrong to stand up to the abuse of people or animals with whatever means are necessary.

[radhika]

33. Kudos to a fine young man.

My peace-loving friends might disapprove, but I don't.

[Arugula Latte]

41. Good for your sons.

I don't think of myself as a violent person but I would have happily pounded that asshole's face into pulp with a shovel.

[BeHereNow]

21. Join the movement- file an FCC complaint against the radio station who encouraged this violence.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002216122

The radio station announced the home addresses of the local
"durty libruls." The fur person was brutally murdered afterwords.

WE, the people, must stand up and put a stop to this HATE TALK radio
inciting violence against our fellow citizens.

Hello? Does anyone remember that GABBY was identified as one
of Sarah Palin's "targets" on her FB page?

What if the cat had not been available for slaughter?
What if one of his children had been riding a bike in front of the house instead?

I demand that the FBI use any means necessary to find this assassin and
SHUT DOWN the radio station that advocated this heinous act and provided
the home address of the victims.

BHN

[BlancheSplanchnik]

27. kick, rec and shared on Facebook

plus my comment:
Violent Conservative media rhetoric, the scapegoating of Liberals......Violence against Liberals by Conservative extremists, Conservative media talkers refuse to admit effects or responsibility for their hate speech ....If media speech were *not* effective in changing behavior, advertisers wouldn't spend billions on it.

I recommend this important article.

[WilliamPitt]

28. I intend to keep this kicked today

[fascisthunter]

29. Right Wing Terrorism is a serious issue in the US

and I attribute it directly to right wing radio and FOX news itself for creating this environment. They have been lying about us, demonizing us in such ways that any nut job would over-react and start taking out aggression on us all. I will go on to say it is deliberate, since it is known how other nations have used similar forms of propaganda to divide people within a country by motivating aggressive elements within their own societies to take out their frustration on what has been deemed the "enemy".

[BeHereNow]

34. It has a name: Stochastic Terrorism

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/01/10/934890/-Stochastic-Terrorism:-Triggering-the-shooters
"Stochastic terrorism is the use of mass communications to stir up random lone wolves to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.

This is what occurs when Bin Laden releases a video that stirs random extremists halfway around the globe to commit a bombing or shooting.

This is also the term for what Beck, O'Reilly, Hannity, and others do. And this is what led directly and predictably to a number of cases of ideologically-motivated murder similar to the Tucson shootings."

We, the people, must DEMAND a stop of stochastic terrorism on our PUBLICLY owned airwaves.
BHN

[fascisthunter]

42. We do need to DEMAND it stops

[hifiguy]

30. Kick

already rec'd.

[WilliamPitt]

31. Kick

[BeHereNow]

32. Kick, for the Kitty, a victim of the party of HATE. FILE a complaint-PLEASE.

Please people- file an FCC complaint against the radio
station who gave the murderer the family address over the air.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002216122
IT ONLY TAKES A FEW MINUTES!
BHN

[WilliamPitt]

37. Kick

[WilliamPitt]

38. Kick

[LongTomH]

40. Kick -- We can't let this be forgotten

[Quantess]

43. He could very likely move on to killing humans.

[stuntcat]

44. kick

this hurt me so bad